Off the Shelf Book Review - Tinsel Trading Company Beautiful Bedrooms with Ribbons and Trims,Sterling Publishing

   Criticizing a book by the owner of Martha Stewart’s favorite store would earn me virtual tomatoes thrown at my email at the speed of light. Having anything negative to say about the most wonderful store in the US of A would make me seem, well, negative.

So, I’ll just say this once: if you’re hoping the first book by Tinsel Trading Company’s Marcia Ceppos will give you an inside look at that fabulous store, you’ll be very disappointed.

If, on the other hand, you clamor for anything written by  Ceppos and her partner, buyer and stylist Rosemary Warren, then you will be quite satisfied with Beautiful Bedrooms with Ribbons and Trims, (Sterling Publishing, 2006, $24.95).

Me? I kept having to remind myself the title was about bedrooms, not about the fantastic store that I dream of visiting, the store where my friend Lisa teaches her fantastic classes, the store with so much! ribbon it necessitates its own space, The Store Across the Street.

So, if you want to see inside Tinsel Trading, you’ll have to be content to crane your head and imagination into the few tiny pictures in the Table of Contents and Introduction. The Foreword is written by none other than Ms. Martha. I found myself reading and re-reading the history of Tinsel Trading, as started by Ceppos’ grandfather in 1933. Besides ‘the store’ and The Store Across the Street, there is also The Store Next Door, all geographically conjoined in Manhattan.

But back to the book. There are 72 projects organized by season, from vignettes and window treatments to pillows, slippers, lampshades and more. Instructions and supply lists are included. The projects are not all by Ceppos and Warren but by a slew of designers, including Kaari Meng (The French-Inspired Home and French-Inspired Jewelry, both previously reviewed here), Anna Corba and Melissa Neufeld, all familiar names to paper-crafters.

    Most all of the projects have a primarily shabby chic feel, to me anyway. ‘Vintage’ would be another good word to describe the feel of the projects. Many rely heavily on passementerie, or the French art of using elaborate trims. Again, I’d like to see all those trims in big, luscious store interior photos, but, oh oops, I promised I wouldn’t complain any further.

I didn’t find any of the projects very difficult, nay perhaps not even challenging. As an example, one project included embellishing your white wicker hamper with silk flowers. Ditto comforters, pillow shams, straw garden hats and just about anything else.

In that sense, the book might serve as a validation that your decorating flair is on par with Martha’s favorite store. For that, buy the book? Up to you. I’ll say no more.

- Guest Author, Gina Smith

{All contributed content Gina Smith © Lilly*s of London*ish}

You can find these books for purchase in our Amazon Store under "Reviewed at Vintage Indie"